Capitalizing on the conjunction of renewed scholarly interest in Thelwall and new archival finds, this collection of essays addresses the central question of the coherence and continuity of Thelwall’s diverse pursuits – literary, political, scientific, therapeutic, elocutionary, and journalistic – across the four decades of his career (c. 1790-1830), and provides new insight into Thelwall’s eclipse and persistence in the nineteenth century. The volume includes an introduction by Yasmin Solomonescu and essays by Nicholas Roe, Mary Fairclough, Molly Desjardins, Emily Stanback, Steve Poole, Angela Esterhammer, and Patty O’Boyle.

The Praxis volume is the first in a three-part project entitled, John Thelwall: Recovery and Reassessments. The remaining two parts, edited by Judith Thompson, will be published in October and consist of two scholarly resources:

The first, John Thelwall in Performance: The Fairy of the Lake, documents the first full production of a Thelwall play, his Arthurian romance The Fairy of the Lake. An introductory essay by Judith Thompson offers historical and literary context for complete footage of the play’s performance in Halifax in 2009, while a series of short video documentaries by Brooke Fifield explores the process of bringing this piece of radical Romantic theatre from dusty page to modern stage.

The second, John Thelwall in Time and Text, combines a detailed chronology of Thelwall’s life with the fullest bibliography to date of his works, letters, and manuscripts, including archival locations and sources.

Together, these three components of John Thelwall: Recovery and Reassessments seek to advance Thelwall studies by reconnecting text, voice, and image in the dynamic way for which Thelwall himself was renowned.